Last month the blog of the National Archives (slogan: "Releasing all we can, protecting what we must) published declassified documents dating back to the 1950s. They reveal more about the U.S. Air Force undertaking called "USAF Project 1794," which was an attempt to build a supersonic, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that looked a heck of a lot like the UFOs imagined by 50s sci-fi.

The Air Force actually contracted the building of the disc out to a Canadian Company called Avro Aircraft Limited, and it seemed pretty keen on the idea (or least it was putting on a happy face to keep its client happy). In a report also released by the archive, Avro says that idea itself, using propulsive jets to control and stabilize the craft, is feasible. The final development summary says the flying saucer would be able to fly to between Mach 3 and 4, and climb to higher than 100,000 feet. Of course, they estimated that building such a contraption would cost more than $3 million in 1956 dollars, or about $26.6 million today, according to CNET.